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Saturday, August 25, 2007

Is a Business Cash Advance the same as a Bank loan ?

Every small business owner experiences the common struggle to attain sufficient capital to finance their business growth and meet working capital shortages or in cases of unforseen emergencies. A Business Cash Advance (BCA) is one option available to alleviate this sort of issue for a business.

The difference is that standard bank financing loans are based on the business' strengths as it is currently. The BCA is much like the Factoring business for outstanding receivables, but with a difference. Th BCA is a buy-sell agreement of Future receivables, therefore it is not a loan instrument.

The agreement is between the business, who is the seller and the the BCA funding provider company, the buyer. Each provider has their own way of operating, so the generalities of BCAs are primarily covered here.

The BCA amount funded is in-part determined by past performance of the business' revenue as a prediction indicator of future sales. BCAs do not include combine outstanding receivables as is done with a standard Factoring company.

The amount of receipts purchased is determined by the average credit card volume over a 90-180 day period. Submission of any documentation (bank statements, sales tax receipts) that supports total prior sales volume in order to be approved for the highest amount possible.

BCA funding can be promptly obtained. After an application is submitted, some funding providers give a verbal approval within 24 hours, others a few days. The business (Seller) receiving the funding takes from five to twelve days on average, larger loans make require a week or two longer.

Small business loans are financed funds that are loaned to business with some assets and are generating strong revenue and profit every year. Whether a business would qualify and get a loan depends entirely on the lender, however, there are few factors that any lender would consider before offering a small business loan to an entrepreneur.

These factors would generally include value and type of asset owned, revenue and income generated annually, number of years the business is in operation, number of employees, D&B rating, and other criteria etc.

Small business loans require a secured personal guarantee and business assets need to be provided as collateral, it might result in lose of assets in case of a default. In almost all cases the lender reserves the exclusive right to decide what constitutes the default and the small business entrepreneur needs to abide by those term.

BCAs undergo some of the same underwriting processes as a loan, but normally require no personal guarantee - if no personal guarantee is required, then personal credit rating is not affected. BCA providers usually look at personal credit scores (FICO) as part of the process, but BCAs can be obtained with a FICO score as low as 500.

Where a BCA can be obtained, Most banks would not even consider offering a business loan if you are:
New in business
Have low credit score or no credit or credit problem
Do not have enough collateral
Need under $100,000

The average Business Cash Advance ranges from $5,000 - $30,000, but can be obtained up to $1,000,000.00.

Cash advance providers receive payment when the business makes sales and receipt of payment by credit/debit cards. The BCA is more of an investment to the provider. The repayment of a business cash advance aligns with the revenue trend of the business; cash sales are never used for repayment. This ensures that it is never a burden to repay the cash advance in fixed monthly payments as required by a bank loan. This gives a business with a slow seasonal period a larger advantage over a bank loan.

There are similarities, but as discussed and summarized in this article there are many differences that distinguish Bank loans between Business Cash Advances. Hopefully this has provided some helpful information.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well written article.

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